New author wins two coveted awards

Childhood is a time full of questions, and Carol Gahara Harris’ new book is based on an inquiry that seems simple enough. What’s in a name?

The book, “My Name is Leona,” follows a child with a very specific complaint. She doesn’t like her name, and by the end of the book, she asks her perplexed parents, “Why did you name me Leona?”

It’s a small problem for most people, but for a little girl, it’s a big issue.

If Leona’s name is more noticeable than most, so too is the book about her predicament. Gahara Harris’ first foray into children’s literature has so far netted her two awards. The Mom’s Choice Seal is awarded to products that are family-friendly and educational.

Gahara Harris received a bronze 2013 Moonbeam Children’s Award for excellence in Children’s literature for a first book in conjunction with the Traverse City Children’s Book Festival.

The validation pleases Gahara Harris, who owns a medical billing company in Clinton Township and has wanted to write a children’s book for several years.

“This book comes straight from my heart,” she said. “I put so much thought into putting together a story that children could relate to. Everyone has something that they don’t like — for Leona, it’s her name. But over the course of the book, she learns to accept, and even love, her name.

It’s a powerful lesson drawn from real life for Gahara Harris, who grew up not liking her name. But like her book’s fictional heroine, she came to appreciate her name.

“The message (of the book) is even if you don’t like something, you may see things differently in time,” she said. “When Leona learns she was given her name out of love, how she feels about her name changes.”

Gahara’s story was illustrated by her personal friend, Kim Fujiwara, who is also a well-known advertising illustrator and artist. Fujiwara crafted the book’s soft-focus look using colored pencils and watercolors, which is fairly rare.

“Today’s way of illustrating is so digital, and I wanted the book to have the look of traditional drawing and painting,” he said.

Both Gahara Harris and Fujiwara worked on how the characters — which also include a goldfish and the main character’s constant companion, a tuxedo cat — would look.

“I wanted to have a personality,” Fujiwara said. “She needed to have spunk.”

How an author’s words and an artist’s brush capture a character can make the difference between a loved, and ignored, children’s book, said Steve Mooser, the president of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

“Coming up with a plot and characters that engage children is hard to do,” he said. “Publishers like to see ideas that they’ve never seen before. But children and parents like books that they can see a little bit of themselves in — they want something that entertains them and reassures them.”

Although Gahara Harris initially set out to write one book, she’s working on plans to write a series of books about Leona. She’s mum about the topics of the planned books, but she said Leona will grow significantly.

“She’s going to encounter all sorts of new situations, and she’s going to learn from them,” she said.

When Gahara Harris is not writing, she’s managing her medical billing business and spending time with her husband, Douglas, and her two grown daughters, Danielle and Lauren.

“My Name is Leona” is available at Amazon.com, and can be purchased at Fisher’s Hallmark at Lakeside Mall, Shoe Strings in Shelby Township, and the Toy Box in Sterling Heights.